New beginnings are always a great time! I am constantly in awe of the resoluteness one needs for the closing of the door behind to walk slowly but assuredly away from one’s comfort. And then how soon it can be followed by the exhilaration and anticipation of new worlds to be found in the opening of the doors ahead.
This is where I find myself. Wanting… Maybe even needing… to enter a new unexplored world. Yet I still enjoy and find fulfillment and rest in the world in which I presently reside.
Living simultaneously in two worlds… It can’t last forever… But while it does, I will enjoy the ride.
“She doesn’t bark. The dog grandpop made for me. She doesn’t bark.”
“Bradford. You’re twelve-years-old. The dog Grandpop Rossi made for you is a classic. It is a hand pull-toy crafted from imported Ceylon ebony and Ponderosa pine. It is a collector’s toy.”
“I know that. But I wanted a dog that barks. One that I can go to the park and throw Frisbees with and he’ll bring them back.”
“Well, we don’t always get exactly what we want.”
“But Grandpop is always telling me stories of him and Papa when Papa was just a boy. Every night he would tell these remarkable stories of trips through the Great Forest to find just the right piece of wood. And all about how he carefully carved each of Papa’s parts. How he lovingly whittled and sanded and whittled and sanded until every piece fit just right.”
“I know the stories.”
“The stories must be true. Papa said that they were true.”
“Papa wouldn’t lie to you. But what else did Papa say?”
“Without love, unabashed love, it never would have happened.”
“Well, there you have your answer.”
“I just have to love Piddle’s, that’s his name, I just have to love Piddle’s until he is real?”
“We’ve been together since Kindergarten,” he said. “I know we’ve had our ups-and –downs… Every couple does. But through thick-and-thin you’ve always stood-by-your-man.”
“Clichés upon clichés. I know you’re a songwriter and that’s in your nature. But that’s all we’ve become,” I responded. “I used to believe sincerely that opposites-do-attract. We had that going for us.”
“We still do,” he pleaded.
“Well, we are opposites that don’t!. I’m a one-woman-man. I will not be disrespected by your lady-in-every-port perception of a grand-old-time. Once-a-cheater-Always a cheater.”
“”I’ll change.” He was on his knees, begging.
“Then you can go and work on changing and leave me alone. Momma always said, ‘Sweetheart-there-are-plenty-of-fish-in-the-sea. Why do you have to stick with the first one you caught?”
“But what about ‘Love-conquers-all’?”
He was persistent. I’ll give him that. I suspect that’s one of the things I’d always found so attractive about him. That, and he was a hunk! “No.” I handed him back the ring. “I will not marry you. I want you to leave. Now.”
“But, sweetems…”
“No! They say that ‘Love is blind.’ I have been blind for far too long. Your life’s pursuit of love-the-one-you’re-with’ will not cut it.”
I tried to pull my foot from him to leave …. He was prostrate grasping it. “I love you. I always come back to you. You know I do. Those other girls… They mean nothing to me. It’s my image. My public persona. Why? Why won’t you marry me? ”
Here, I could finally end it. I thought of my final reply:
I wouldn’t marry you if ka-zillionaire and you purchased Hawaii for me as our wedding gift.
I wouldn’t marry you if built like Dwayne John, the Rock, and … That won’t work. He’s handsomer than Dwayne.
I wouldn’t marry you if I were being held hostage and our spoken vows would save the world.
Which one should I pick?
Written for Sunday Afternoon Writings: A Zoom Writing Group. Requirements: Complete this story-Starter.
Out-N-About: Tembe Elephant Park – Emangusi, South Africa
During the next several Saturday mornings, I am going to gift you with a few video-vacations is see many amazing animals.
For today’s excursion we are going to visit a herd of elephants at Tembe Elephant Park in Emangusi, South Africa
I hope you enjoy the fun as much as I have in watching these lovable lumaxas (Elephants are actually very intellengent creatures- I was just enjoying the alliteration.) reveling in family fellowship.
Carefully detaching the fleshy fragments from the canvas with tiny tweezers, the lead forensic specialist placed each ‘piece of evidence’ in the properly corresponding baggy. Then each bag was secured, taped and labeled. The labels matched the picture she had previously taken with her iPad.
As she worked she explained the splatter remains.
“Likely we’re looking at a .38 caliber. You can see where the victim’s head shielded much of this lower area in the painting.”
“Didn’t you retrieve the bullet?”
“We did. But the prospects of a comparison’s not good. The projectile passed through the frontal and the parietal of the victim’s skull before lodging in the wall behind the painting. It’s fatally distorted.”
“So no luck there.”
“Lieutenant, they is no need for an identification of the projectile. We have the gun.”
“No,” replied the lieutenant. “You have ‘a gun’. Unless we can link this gun to the bullet, the defense attorney will have a heyday on cross. There’s no good reason to have left the weapon that was used in the commission of this murder at the scene. Everything else has been too well thought out. This particular gun is a ‘red herring’. I’d bet my badge on it.”
“Lieutenant,” an officer reports in. “We have a suspect, sir. He was hiding in the crawlspace. We also found vinyl gloves with powder residue still on them.”
“Well,” smiled the Lieutenant. “Looks like he planned the perfect murder- red herring and all. But he forgot about the getaway.”
Written for (This was to be for a 100 word prompt but I misread and got two different prompt’s requirements confused.) Me.
The waiting in line. Incredibly tedious. I had things to do. Well, actually, today I don’t.
A sign was posted inside the glass-enclosed bulletin board. I silently chucked. Florida Statute Section 790.06 (12). Today that was the least of their worries.
They’d promised a three day delivery for my baby girl’s Barbie. I’d paid the extra cost for shipping. My baby was disappointed.
I called my ex-wife. It was a full-on punch in the gut when I had heard. There was no present.
My ex-wife already knew I was a failure. Now my little girl was wounded. How do you explain to a five-year-old that Santa had shipped her present USPS and he had made a mistake? This mishap could haunt her for years.
I’d been here before Christmas and they’d tracked the package. They’d even told me where it was stored. I had asked to retrieve it to deliver it myself. They had refused. Now… they will pay.
Patiently, I waited in line. As new customers arrived, I politely allowed them to go in front of me.
Looking at my wrist-watch… three minutes until lunch. I would be the last in line.
No innocents would be harmed. But someone had to pay. That was the plan.
Unobserved, I quietly walked to the entrance door and locked it. I turned the ‘Welcome’ sign to ‘Come Back after Lunch’.
My timing was impeccable. The gentleman, if you could call the covert-baby-disappointing-monster that, was the man who had assured me that this Christmas would be perfect. He was waiting at the counter.
Before I could speak to him, his supervisor tapped him on the shoulder. “Get a jump on lunch, Calvin. I’ll take this one.”
She was glowing. “I see you have already flipped our sign. Thanks so much. Sometimes our lunchtimes are over before the last costumer is served. How can I help you?
Barely comprehending her words. All I could focus on was her huge belly.
(328 words)
Written for Sunday Afternoon Writings: A Zoom Writing Group. Requirements: Use these five words in a flash fiction story. Post Office (I substituted Postal), glass, wound, failure, and wrist-watch.
What should you get rid of, that would make your new year better, and why? (Don’t say Covid-19, we all want to get rid of the dang virus) I snagged this question from another blogger, but failed to note who thought it up. My apologies! I KNOW better than to trust my memory any more. If it’s your question and you’d like credit, please let me know! Great question too, in my opinion!
What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Does your family have a “motto” – spoken or unspoken?
On a scale of 1-10 how funny would you say you are? (This does not mean ‘smell’ or looks; because this is a judgment free blog!)
What should you get rid of, that would make your new year better, and why? (Don’t say Covid-19, we all want to get rid of the dang virus) I snagged this question from another blogger, but failed to note who thought it up. My apologies! I KNOW better than to trust my memory any more. If it’s your question and you’d like credit, please let me know! Great question too, in my opinion!
Gfycat
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I suspect, I’ve said enough.
What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Gfycat
This is not me!
Does your family have a “motto” – spoken or unspoken?
I don’t think we ever had a ‘family motto’. I know me mom used to say, if we had a problem with someone,., “Kill them with kindness”.
Mickey Haller, a California defense attorney, saves overhead in his law practice (and gives himself much needed freedom) by running his law office from the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car.
Haller defends the down-and-out: biker gangs, drug-dealers, prostitutes, con artists. He finds that winning court cases is rarely about what is actually ‘true’. Winning is about negotiations and manipulations of the laws of our great nation.
Haller gets the chanceto defend a ‘big-money client!
Haller is hired to defend a local Beverly Hills playboy who is accused of murdering a web-procured escort. The playboy claims to have been set-up for a fleecing.
Young Sheldon is a spin-off from the hit show The Big Bang Theory.
Young Sheldon explains where the ‘true’ Sheldon Cooper- world-renown scientist and playboy- set his roots.
Nine-year-old Sheldon is attending high school. His mother, a caring, somewhat protective, caretaker and his father, the school’s football coach, continue to assist in smoothing the path ahead for Sheldon as he finds ways to make friends and interact in a world not-at-al as he actually envisions.
Sheldon (Iain Armitage) is FANTASTIC! While Sheldon is more than intellectually brilliant in the world of sciences, Sheldon has virtually no understanding of the world of human interactions. Even his basic understanding of human interaction is usually flawed.
One saving grace for Sheldon … He is confident in his mother’s love! (Zoe Perry plays Sheldon’s mother.)
Sheldon’s father (played by Lance Barber) has little understanding of what makes Sheldon tick, but he is always in Sheldon’s corner. Often my Mr. Cooper’s personal reflections he allows himself to share with Sheldon, Sheldon grasps very basic understandings of the world of human relationships.
George “Georgie” Cooper, Jr., Sheldon’s older brother (played by Montana Jordan), constantly harasses Sheldon. Georgie is ‘not too bright’ academically. But eth lovable thing about Georgie- what you see is what you get. He wears his life on his shirt-sleeve.
Missy Cooper, Sheldon’s twin sister, is not academically intelligent, but she has a grand understanding of basic human relationships. When she is not teasing Sheldon, she often provides Sheldon with the necessary insights to allow him success in navigating the world around him.
